Thousands of Documents Withheld Regarding Arctic Oil Leasing
I saw this today on the web, it looks like Bush is shaping the data to fit predetermined outcomes in other areas:
Scientists Ignored on Pitfalls of Arctic Oil Leasing
WASHINGTON, DC, February 5, 2008 (ENS) - The Interior Department is hastening to stop the flow of internal e-mails from its own scientists that undermine the legality of its offshore oil and gas lease sales in federal Arctic waters, according to correspondence released Monday by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, PEER. During the past three weeks, PEER has released a series of internal e-mails from current and former Interior scientists raising questions about how badly environmental assessments of Arctic offshore oil development were skewed. The e-mails are contrary to Bush administration claims that environmental risks were adequately considered prior to offering tracts for lease in the Chukchi, Beaufort and Bering Seas for oil exploration.
“Congress should hear directly from the agency scientists whose work was altered or axed altogether,” said Jeff Ruch, executive director of PEER, a national alliance of local, state and federal resource professionals. Ruch said most congressional attention has been focused on the delays in the decision whether to list the polar bear under the Endangered Species Act until after the lease sale in the Chukchi Sea is held on February 6, while the suppression of evidence has not been as closely considered. “The Bush administration oil rush in the Arctic is lubricated by systematic scientific fraud,” accused Ruch. The e-mails released by PEER have fueled two new lawsuits in the past week that threaten to block new lease sales and lend further support to ongoing litigation against earlier lease sales. Lawsuits brought by Native communities and conservation groups contend that Interior failed to honestly reflect oil spill dangers and negative effects on endangered marine life, such as bowhead whales, as well as on polar bear populations struggling to cope with shrinking sea ice due to global warming.